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11th out of 82 books
—
63 voters
The List of Seven
by
Mark Frost (Goodreads Author)
On Christmas Day 1884, a desperate plea from a mysterious woman leads Arthur Conan Doyle—struggling physician, aspiring writer, and part-time demystifier of the occult—to a seance in London’s East End and into a fiendish and deadly trap. Stunned by a shocking display of black magic, Doyle witnesses a murder, nearly falling victim himself before being rescued by a secretive...more
Paperback, 416 pages
Published
September 1st 1994
by Avon
(first published January 1st 1993)
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a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure starring mystical special agent Jack Sparks and his doughty Doubting Thomas sidekick Arthur Conan Doyle!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure starring mystical special agent Jack Sparks and his doughty Doubting Thomas sidekick Arthur Conan Doyle, united to fight an infernal Dark Brotherhood and their terrifying zombie and mummy minions!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk advent...more
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure starring mystical special agent Jack Sparks and his doughty Doubting Thomas sidekick Arthur Conan Doyle!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure starring mystical special agent Jack Sparks and his doughty Doubting Thomas sidekick Arthur Conan Doyle, united to fight an infernal Dark Brotherhood and their terrifying zombie and mummy minions!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk advent...more
Mar 21, 2008
William
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Sherlock Holmes fans, horror fans, Victoriana fans
Shelves:
horror-fiction
Mark Frost is best known as the writer on Twin Peaks, and he brings a similarly twisted vision to this wonderful novel set in a slightly skewed Victorian England.
The protagonist is Arthur Conan Doyle, still a doctor, and with no inkling of his creation of the worlds greatest detective.
That's before he gets involved with a secret service agent with amazing deductive skills, a penchant for morphine, and a twisted, brilliant older brother.
This may sound like a Holmes pastiche, but Frost's imaginati...more
The protagonist is Arthur Conan Doyle, still a doctor, and with no inkling of his creation of the worlds greatest detective.
That's before he gets involved with a secret service agent with amazing deductive skills, a penchant for morphine, and a twisted, brilliant older brother.
This may sound like a Holmes pastiche, but Frost's imaginati...more
This is like a "Da Vinci Code"-"The Mummy" hybrid. The references to Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, even Jack the Ripper makes this the only book in recent memory to thrill and amaze without making you feel like you should know more literary crap you could possibly know what to do with. This one goes crazy in the most fertile world of Edwardian (the V.D.d prince) London where reality walks hand in hand with the monstrous creations of masterful minds! I read this at an unusually languid, slow p...more
4 likes · like · see review
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This was a very unusual book, which shouldn't be terribly surprising, since the author, Mark Frost is a co-creator of the TV series Twin Peaks.
I definitely enjoyed the book, but it is difficult to do it proper justice in a review without giving away too much of the story. I will do my best.
Arthur Conan Doyle, doctor and aspiring author, and occult de-bunker, receives a mysterious letter on Christmas Eve from a woman begging him to come to a seance and help her. When he does, he witnesses a horri...more
I definitely enjoyed the book, but it is difficult to do it proper justice in a review without giving away too much of the story. I will do my best.
Arthur Conan Doyle, doctor and aspiring author, and occult de-bunker, receives a mysterious letter on Christmas Eve from a woman begging him to come to a seance and help her. When he does, he witnesses a horri...more
It's not often you stumble upon a book that totally sucks you in and ticks all of the right buttons straight away. The List of 7 did that for me.
Sherlock Holmes - TICK
Occult themes - TICK
Victorian setting - TICK
Jack the Ripper - TICK
Egyptology - TICK
Spiritualism - TICK
Zombies, vampires and other monsters - TICK
It felt that this book was written for me - I'm such a selfish reader.
The basic premise is that Arthur Conan Doyle's life is threatened following attendance at a seance; invited by a woman...more
Sherlock Holmes - TICK
Occult themes - TICK
Victorian setting - TICK
Jack the Ripper - TICK
Egyptology - TICK
Spiritualism - TICK
Zombies, vampires and other monsters - TICK
It felt that this book was written for me - I'm such a selfish reader.
The basic premise is that Arthur Conan Doyle's life is threatened following attendance at a seance; invited by a woman...more
this book was victorian, gothic, horror, mysterey rolled into a easy pulp style; fast paced, easy read, yet not a total brain twister. Liked the ending didn't see it coming but should have;just enjoyed the ride and wasn't looking for a literary giant to come out of this victorian romp. If your looking for a classic read the original doyle tales--there's a reason thier classic and still in print from the 19th century to the 21'st. ON a side note for victorian horror with deeper content and a more...more
I bought this when it was one of the Kindle Daily Deals and now I wish I hadn't spent even 99p on such a waste of a book. Once you realise this is simply just another diet Sherlock Holmes novel with a few names changed around, any enjoyment that could be derived from it simply vanishes. Frost could have at least tried to go with some originality but fails dismally. The writing style itself may be solid but that is the only redeeming feature of this book.
The plotline, whilst in keeping with Holme...more
The plotline, whilst in keeping with Holme...more
When I heard Mark Frost was writing a book, I jumped on board with two feet. I adored Twin Peaks back in the day and was curious to see how such a visionary of the small screen could bring that vision to the literary world.
Quite well, actually. It's very convoluted at times, with many characters and sometimes not enough background (or character information to draw you in) but I applauded the way that he made something out of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I'm fairly certain that they author would be fl...more
Quite well, actually. It's very convoluted at times, with many characters and sometimes not enough background (or character information to draw you in) but I applauded the way that he made something out of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I'm fairly certain that they author would be fl...more
For fans of both The Somnambulist and The Anubis Gates (and how could you like one and not the other?) along with fans of dark fantasy, steampunk, New Weird, victorian fantasy and adventure fiction in general I recommend The List of 7 wholeheartedly. The protagonist is Arthur Conan Doyle, long before he wrote Sherlock Holmes and was knighted. He becomes ensnared in a web of intrigue involving amassing evil forces, dark magic, criminal masterminds, seances and spiritualists, deductive reasoning,...more
I only found out that after reading this that Mark Frost was the same Mark Frost who co-created Twin Peaks. Just as well really, otherwise I might have gone into this novel expecting way too much.
Overall, The List of 7 is a great, fun filled romp through Victorian Britain with a mystery that unfolds at nice enough pace and was intriguing enough to keep me interested. I would advise though, that a tongue must be firmly inserted into a cheek before beginning this story. This is not a novel that in...more
Overall, The List of 7 is a great, fun filled romp through Victorian Britain with a mystery that unfolds at nice enough pace and was intriguing enough to keep me interested. I would advise though, that a tongue must be firmly inserted into a cheek before beginning this story. This is not a novel that in...more
This was an excellent read. I'd listened the audiotape about 8 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, but the book was just as fantastic. The basic premise here is that a young doctor, Arthur Conan Doyle, has submitted a manuscript (dealing with the dark world of the occult overtaking the world) for publication. In doing so, he has unwittingly stumbled across that very thing in the underworld of London. Now targeted by this group, he must escape them and expose their plans before they kill him. Al...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
I recently had occasion to think again about the exquisitely strange 1990s television show Twin Peaks, co-created by David Lynch and Mark Frost; and that got me thinking again about Frost's two genre novels from that time period as well, 1993's The List of 7 and '95's The 6 Messiahs, the first of which I...more
I recently had occasion to think again about the exquisitely strange 1990s television show Twin Peaks, co-created by David Lynch and Mark Frost; and that got me thinking again about Frost's two genre novels from that time period as well, 1993's The List of 7 and '95's The 6 Messiahs, the first of which I...more
A fun, fast-paced read combining adventure with elements of horror. The plot careens along like a boulder hurtling down a hill, bouncing this way and that but always keeping the reader's attention. In it, a young Arthur Conan Doyle encounters Jack Sparks, (who eventually becomes Doyle's inspiration for Sherlock Holmes), and together with Spark's trusted comrades, they battle a gang of evil-doers bent on world domination, led by Spark's brother, Alexander. (Suffice it to say, the Sparks family ha...more
I just finished this and it was a great Victorian detective novel! And since I Love everything with and about Arthur Conan Doyle this book was a must-read for me!
it is a fictional story about A. C. Doyles early years as a young struggeling author and where he found his inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.
Doyle gets accidently thrown in an underground movement with seven higly placed people and their plan to take over the English Royal House. He meets a man, Sparks, who has for years worked for the g...more
it is a fictional story about A. C. Doyles early years as a young struggeling author and where he found his inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.
Doyle gets accidently thrown in an underground movement with seven higly placed people and their plan to take over the English Royal House. He meets a man, Sparks, who has for years worked for the g...more
This is part of that particular offshoot of Holmes pastiches that uses not the Great Detective himself, but his author, Arthur Conan Doyle. This tale penned by Twin Peaks scribe Mark Frost thrusts a young Conan Doyle into an occult mystery leading to the rise of a dark power, the identity of which provides a bit of a twist at the end. Conan Doyle serves as a sort of Watson figure to a Holmes stand-in who works as a secret agent for the British government. I found it a crackling yarn that tickled...more
This is a diverting fantasy type historical horror story. It follows Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle and his supposed inspiration for Sherlock Holmes on a life-or-death quest through Victorian London. Bram Stoker makes an appearance too! It's a relatively easy read, but it's a little heavy on description and could have been shorter. Also the Requiem chapter made me LOL. I mean, ok...(view spoiler) The rest was...more
¿Qué ocurriría si un médico e un investigador de los paranormal, que se encuentra en la busqueda de la verdad que intenta conciliar la espiritualidad y la realidad? ¿Qué consecuencias tendría en tu vida, siendo un escritor novel, descubrir que tu último manuscrito tiene un trasfondo de realidad? ¿Y finalmente como te cambiaria la vida saber que tu vida peligra por esto? ¿Y Finalmente que te encuentras un hombre que es muy similar a ti encuento a su poder de observación, deducción y que puede est...more
1. Plot/Story -
Okay, the plot…well, that’s a tough question because I am not sure if what makes this book so interesting is considered “Plot” or “World Building.” On the possibility that it’s both, I’ll give some thoughts here, and some thoughts there.
To me this seemed a lot like the English version of the intense cowboy Secret Service Agent, James West, played by Robert Conrad with all the flare and pomposity of a Roger Moore James Bond or maybe a William Shatner styled Captain Kirk. Hey, no...more
Okay, the plot…well, that’s a tough question because I am not sure if what makes this book so interesting is considered “Plot” or “World Building.” On the possibility that it’s both, I’ll give some thoughts here, and some thoughts there.
To me this seemed a lot like the English version of the intense cowboy Secret Service Agent, James West, played by Robert Conrad with all the flare and pomposity of a Roger Moore James Bond or maybe a William Shatner styled Captain Kirk. Hey, no...more
5 likes · like · see review
I wavered between giving this book two or three stars. So it should really be two-and-a-half, I suppose.
I wanted to like this book more than I did; it has so many elements I enjoy in a novel. Historical setting, insertion of fictional characters into "reality," madcap adventures and supernatural goings-on. I'm also on a recent Sherlock Holmes kick... all in all, The List of 7 should have been a winner!
And there were great aspects to the book. First and foremost: the dialogue was splendid. The b...more
I wanted to like this book more than I did; it has so many elements I enjoy in a novel. Historical setting, insertion of fictional characters into "reality," madcap adventures and supernatural goings-on. I'm also on a recent Sherlock Holmes kick... all in all, The List of 7 should have been a winner!
And there were great aspects to the book. First and foremost: the dialogue was splendid. The b...more
Aug 04, 2009
Mazel
marked it as to-read
Un jour de Noël 1884, à Londres, un jeune médecin nommé Arthur Conan Doyle est convoqué à une séance de spiritisme.
Il est lui-même un spécialiste de l'occulte, ayant écrit un roman sur le sujet, inspiré des écrits très mystiques de Madame Blavatsky.
A la suite de cette séance, Doyle est en danger de mort, son appartement est incendié, sa voisine russe assassinée !...
Un agent très spécial de la Reine vient à son secours et lui explique que son propre frère, qui a tué père et mère, s'est ligué a...more
Il est lui-même un spécialiste de l'occulte, ayant écrit un roman sur le sujet, inspiré des écrits très mystiques de Madame Blavatsky.
A la suite de cette séance, Doyle est en danger de mort, son appartement est incendié, sa voisine russe assassinée !...
Un agent très spécial de la Reine vient à son secours et lui explique que son propre frère, qui a tué père et mère, s'est ligué a...more
Gripping from the beginning, I found this book pretty hard to put down. The author takes you on various twists and turns that will make you use your brain to figure out what the heck is going on. My only complaint, and the reason it did not get 5 stars, is the ending. It was all wrapped up too quick and the buildup of plot came to a very flat and un-cataclysmic end that doesn't really fit with the rest of the story.
All in all, a good book, until the last 70 pages or so.
All in all, a good book, until the last 70 pages or so.
Narrated by a young Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this is a recounting of his adventures with a mysterious agent of Her Majesty, Jack Sparks. A man of many talents, with whom Doyle shares the uncanny gift of logical deduction that he would later make the hallmark of a character based on Sparks himself- Sherlock Holmes.
A really excellent, rip-roaring pulp tale. I really enjoyed this one, and the sequel, The 6th Messiah. Recommended.
A really excellent, rip-roaring pulp tale. I really enjoyed this one, and the sequel, The 6th Messiah. Recommended.
Full of suspense, a good old-fashioned "who dunnit' that kept me on my toes. The writing was a little sporadic, often switching between first and third person narratives. This book as full of mystery, intrigue, history, gothic romance, horror and just about everything in between. I found it to be highly enjoyable, and definitely recommend it. The end was a little disappointing / cliffhanger-ish, but that leaves hope for a sequel!
I have read many, many works of detective fiction, but Mark Frost's treatment of the genre' with The List of Seven truly captivates. Using both fictional and historical characters Frost weaves a tapestry of adventure, horror, cliff-hangers and revelations that I quite literally could not put down, giving up real food and sleep for most of a 24-hour period. No spoilers, here! Go give 'er a whirl; the game's afoot!
I read this book and the sequel, The 6 Messiahs, years ago and loved them. I decided to give the audiobook a go and loved it all over again, plus it's a really short listen. Not as exciting as the first read, but it was a good time. Basically, Arthur Conan Doyle is himself in this before he wrote his Sherlock Holmes stories for the strand. You meet the man (Jack Sparks) and adventures that inspire him to write Sherlock and Watson. This is not a real spoiler, but there's lots of "occult" and Freu...more
I was traveling for spring break to Snoqualmie Pass in Washington to go see the sites they used for the Twin Peaks show. I was a huge fan. Mark Frost wrote/co-created much of the second season of that show and I stumbled on his book up in Washington during my trip. I thought I was in for something special like silent drape runners or a fine slice of hot apple pie. I wasn't disappointed.
Aug 03, 2011
Cassandra
added it
I thought this book was really intriguing. It was interesting the way it was put together. The author did good on the characters and settings. It was a challenge in the way it was written, since it was based in England. I did laugh out loud a couple of times. At other times I read faster due to the suspense. It was a very good book for those who like dark stories.
A historical mystery set in London during the 1880s with Arthur Conan Doyle as the hero. Ok, this sounds pretty good, but then you add the "mystic" parts - zombies, senances, black magic, etc. and the plot gets a bit weird. But, I kept reading as it is an action/thriller book which is hard to put down. So, that's why this got three, not four stars.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What's The Name o...: Help me remember the name of a mystery-detective book with Sherlock Holmes like Hero.... [s] | 6 | 127 | Oct 20, 2012 04:34am | |
| Nora Branch Book ...: The Dark Brotherhood | 1 | 3 | Sep 19, 2012 09:50am | |
| Action/Adventure ...: November Discussion: The List of Seven *Spoilers Likely* | 13 | 18 | Nov 26, 2011 01:22am |
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“.....the light you possess will burn to the great benefit of this world long after our poor footprints have been washed from the sand.”
—
2 people liked it
“If man could apply half the ingenuity he’s exhibited in the creation of weapons to more sensible ends, there’s no limit to what he might yet accomplish”
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Nov 25, 2011 10:23am
You also reminded me that I need to head over to A/A and comment on Seven.
Nov 25, 2011 11:03am